News

2015 News Archive

Today in Albany, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, and legislative leaders announced $500 million in economic development support for the Finger Lakes and selected the region as one of the three awardees of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI) competition.

Kevin P. Rolland-Thompson, husband of Jannick Rolland-Thompson, passed away on November 20, 2015, just over 4 weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. Kevin was a Scientist in The Institute of Optics; The Group Director, Research and Development/Optics at Synopsys, Inc.; and an active member and Fellow of both SPIE and OSA. Kevin received his Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences where he was recently recognized as the 2015 Alumnus of the Year. He earned a dual BS degree in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Minnesota, Institute of Technology.

Representative Louise Slaughter toured the laboratory of Institute of Optics Professor Chunlei Guo on November 9th, following her announcement earlier in the year that Prof. Chunlei Guo's laboratory has won a total of $430,000 from the Army Research Office and the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency. Guo's research in laser treatment of surfaces can produce metals that strongly attract or repel water. The technique has many potential applications, such as corrosion resistance and greater efficiency of air conditioning. The full story

David R. Williams, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on human vision, has been named the recipient of Sigma Xi’s 2015 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement. The prize is given annually since 1950 in recognition of “outstanding achievement in scientific research and demonstrated ability to communicate the significance of this work to scientists in other disciplines.” Past Procter Prize recipients have included Jane Goodall, Vannevar Bush, Margaret Mead, Murray Gell-Mann, and Rita Colwell.

Institute of Optics graduate student Daniel Nikolov has won an Arts, Sciences and Engineering Donald M. and Janet C. Barnard Fellowship. The award cites his strong research record as well as his exceptional commitment to mentoring, outreach and service to the Institute and the field of optics.

An Institute of Optics research group led by Jannick Rolland (left) in partnership with Cristina Canavesi (right), president of LighTopTech, won a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation. The Institute and LighTopTech are developing a biomimetic microscope inspired by nature, specifically learning from whales' refocusing eyes. The microscope uses infrared light to image tissues without radiation or cutting. The first version of the device will be used to measure contact lenses for quality control.

The Nicholas George Endowed Professorship in Optics was established in September by a gift from Milton Chang with an additional commitment from Joseph W. Goodman, the William Ayer Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. Chang, who is a former student of Professor Emeritus Nicholas George at Cal Tech, and Goodman made their contributions out of a mutual desire to express their respect and admiration for Professor Emeritus Nicholas George. The new professorship will recognize Professor George's influence in the world of optics and on his students. The full story

Undergraduate Zhaoyu Nie won a DAAD-RISE internship at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Munich, where he worked with doctoral students in their theoretical work on attosecond optics, a small but highly advanced field. For Zhaoyu, this was an enlightening glimpse into a fulfilling life in science. Read more...

Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that defects on an atomically thin semiconductor can produce light-emitting quantum dots. The quantum dots serve as a source of single photons and could be useful for the integration of quantum photonics with solid-state electronics – a combination known as integrated photonics.

Congratulations to Kyle Fuerschbach, a PhD candidate at the Institute of Optics, for receiving the Outstanding Dissertation Award in Engineering and Applied Sciences 2014-2015 at the University of Rochester.

A team of researchers at the University of Rochester is designing an optical system to image responses to light of large numbers of individual cells in the retina, with the objective of accelerating the development of the next generation of cures for blindness. The Rochester team and their partners will receive $3.8 million from the National Eye Institute over the next five years.

Congratulations to Dr. Nick Vamivakas, assistant professor of quantum optics and quantum physics, recipient of the G. Graydon ’58 and Jane W. Curtis Award for Nontenured Faculty Teaching Excellence. An innovator and a rising star, Nick joined the University in 2011, and has already earned high marks for his teaching abilities, scientific contributions, and scholarly activities.

Congratulations to Dr. Govind Agrawal, the James C. Wyant Professor of Optics, who has been named the recipient of this year's Esther Hoffman Beller Medal by the Optical Society (OSA), "for inspiring and educating a generation of scientists and engineers involved with fiber-optic communications and other photonics technologies through his seminal textbooks and high-impact scientific articles."

We are proud of alumni Dan Christensen '08 (MS Optics) '13 (PhD Optics), now OEM Application Manager with TOPTICA Photonics, who, as a PhD student here, was one of the co-authors of a paper that just received the Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The paper, "Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain," (Science, Oct. 18, 2013) shows how, during sleep, the brain clears out harmful toxins or waste that build up during the day. In-vivo two-photon imaging was among the techniques used to observe the flow of fluids in the brains of mice as they slept or were awake. Joe Vornehm, who just completed his PhD in Optics here, notes: "This is a great example of how optics is an enabling technology for all sorts of areas, from medical research to manufacturing. The laser was once called 'a solution in search of a problem,' but so much of modern life wouldn't be possible without lasers."

Xi-Cheng Zhang and Duncan Moore attended the Opening Ceremony of the International Year of Light 2015, held in UNESCO, Paris on Jan. 19-20, as members of the OSA delegation from USA. Five Noble Laureates (Ahmed Zewail, Steven Chu, William Phillips, Serge Haroche, and Zhores Alfrerov) gave the plenary talks, and many others presented in thematic sessions over the two days.

Recognitions and awards, a celebration of the 40th anniversary of our Industrial Associates Program, the 2nd annual summer Photon Camp, and more endowed Scholarships are only a few of the highlights for 2014. The year 2015 is filled with bright promise, and we look forward to continued excellence.

Recognitions and awards, a celebration of the 40th anniversary of our Industrial Associates Program, the 2nd annual summer Photon Camp, and more endowed Scholarships are only a few of the highlights for 2014. The year 2015 is filled with bright promise, and we look forward to continued excellence.